Cultivars and plant improvement.

2021 ◽  
pp. 110-147
Author(s):  
Sisir Mitra

Abstract The major objectives of guava breeding are aimed at improving both plant and fruit characteristics such as to develop high-yielding, high-quality dwarf cultivars with fruits of uniform shape, good size, attractive skin and pulp colour, fewer and/or soft seeds, resistant to wilt, nematodes and long storage life. Selection of superior seedlings has resulted in the development of a number of cultivars in different countries. This chapter describes the Psidium species used in breeding (Psidium cattleyanum, P. guineense, P. acutangulum, P. friedrichsthalianum, P. angulatum and P. littorale), objectives of breeding programmes, introduction and selection, inheritance pattern, interspecific hybridization, polyploidy, mutation and molecular characterization. Guava cultivars growing in different countries (Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, USA and vietnam) are also described.

Zoosymposia ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 297-318
Author(s):  
W. Geoff McIlleron ◽  
Ferdinand C. De Moor

Whereas photography of insects at rest is used for a wide variety of purposes, including illustrating publications and aiding their identification, photography of insects in flight is more challenging and little practiced. This paper describes a system that uses a digital single-lens-reflex camera combined with commercial-level flashes (with electronic power settings to give very short exposures) and simple electronics in a rig that can be used to capture high quality images of night-flying insects. With such a rig, hundreds of images of free flying Trichoptera have been obtained. Preliminary observations of night-flying Athripsodes bergensis (Leptoceridae) indicate that this system could be used for studying the mechanics of flight, wing beat frequency, aerodynamics, flying speed, aerial activity, and behavioural ecology of night-flying insects in their natural environment.      This paper briefly describes the technique as applied at a site on the banks of the Groot River in the southern Cape region of South Africa between October 2008 and April 2009 and presents a selection of the images obtained.


1999 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 287-289
Author(s):  
H. A. Quamme ◽  
R. A. MacDonald ◽  
W. D. Lane ◽  
C. R. Hampson

Chinook is an attractive, high-quality apple cultivar ripening after Red Delicious. It was selected for its outstanding appearance, texture and flavour and long storage life. Key words: Malus domestica Borkh., dessert apple, cultivar description


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 11962
Author(s):  
Ngcebo C. Mncwango ◽  
Corlina M. Van Jaarsveld ◽  
Nontuthuko R. Ntuli ◽  
Sydney Mavengahama

Participatory variety selection (PVS) is a process that tests promising genotypes in farmers’ fields through a close farmer–researcher collaboration approach, which enhances the acceptance of new varieties by farmers. However, limited studies have been conducted to select Amaranthus genotypes that have potential for future breeding programmes in South Africa. Therefore, this study was aimed at selecting Amaranthus genotype(s) that is/are preferred by farmers in northern KwaZulu-Natal, using the PVS approach. Seedlings of fifteen Amaranthus genotypes were each planted in separate 10 × 10 m plots. Fourteen local farmers managed these genotypes and also determined the preferred traits to be used to evaluate them. These traits were: mild taste; profuse stem branching; big and numerous leaves; soft texture; and longer shelf life. Plants at four months after transplant were then evaluated and ranked according to farmers’ preferred traits using score sheets designed on a four-point Likert scale or five-point hedonic scale. However, genotype ACAT seed fair had the best scoring for appealing taste and aroma, and profuse branching. The TOT 8789 genotype had the largest and softest leaves. Again, A. thunbergii had the most numerous leaves of them all. These genotypes are thus recommended for multi-environment testing, seed multiplication, genetic improvement, and promotion for cultivation in South Africa.


Author(s):  
Nina Glebovna Krasova ◽  
Anna Mironovna Galasheva

A large apple gene pool has been collected at the All-Russian Research Institute of Fruit Crop Breeding including apple varieties of national selection, new breeding domestic and foreign varieties and genotypes of various genetic and ecological origins. The study of Volga apple varieties has allowed assessing them in the Orel region. The varieties with the long storage life of high-quality fruit have been identified: Gubernskoye, Kondratievskoye, Paskhalnoye, Pervenetz Rtisheva of the Saratov experimental station of horticulture. The varieties may be used for further breeding when creating high-quality domestic apple varieties with the fruit of long storage life and consumption.


2003 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-74
Author(s):  
Yu. N. Smirnov ◽  
S.V. Kruzhkova ◽  
T.E. Shatskaya ◽  
V.I. Natrusov

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-69
Author(s):  
Stephanus Muller

Stephanus Le Roux Marais (1896−1979) lived in Graaff-Reinet, South Africa, for nearly a quarter of a century. He taught music at the local secondary school, composed most of his extended output of Afrikaans art songs, and painted a number of small landscapes in the garden of his small house, nestled in the bend of the Sunday’s River. Marais’s music earned him a position of cultural significance in the decades of Afrikaner dominance of South Africa. His best-known songs (“Heimwee,” “Kom dans, Klaradyn,” and “Oktobermaand”) earned him the local appellation of “the Afrikaans Schubert” and were famously sung all over the world by the soprano Mimi Coertse. The role his ouevre played in the construction of a so-called European culture in Africa is uncontested. Yet surprisingly little attention has been paid to the rich evocations of landscape encountered in Marais’s work. Contextualized by a selection of Marais’s paintings, this article glosses the index of landscape in this body of cultural production. The prevalence of landscape in Marais’s work and the range of its expression contribute novel perspectives to understanding colonial constructions of the twentieth-century South African landscape. Like the vast, empty, and ancient landscape of the Karoo, where Marais lived during the last decades of his life, his music assumes specificity not through efforts to prioritize individual expression, but through the distinct absence of such efforts. Listening for landscape in Marais’s songs, one encounters the embrace of generic musical conventions as a condition for the construction of a particular national identity. Colonial white landscape, Marais’s work seems to suggest, is deprived of a compelling musical aesthetic by its very embrace and desired possession of that landscape.


2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dabesaki Mac-Ikemenjima

There is growing interest in the development of measures and indexes of youth wellbeing. However, there has been a limited discussion on indicators to measure and select them. This paper reports on the results of a qualitative study on the selection of indicators to measure the wellbeing of young people in South Africa, and reflects on the relevance of the content of their values in choosing indicators for measuring their wellbeing. The data used in this analysis is based on telephone (9) and email (6) interviews conducted with 15 young people (male=5, female=10) aged 22 to 32 from five South African cities during July 2010. In the interviews, participants were asked to identify five issues they considered important to their lives, after which they were asked to rank them in order of importance. The issues indicated by the participants are described and discussed in six dimensions: economic, relationships, spiritual and health, education, time use and material. The indicators developed from this study are discussed in terms of their relevance for use in a measure of youth wellbeing in South Africa.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronel Sewpaul ◽  
Rik Crutzen ◽  
Natisha Dukhi ◽  
Derrick Sekgala ◽  
Priscilla Reddy

Abstract Background Maternal mortality among adolescent mothers in South Africa is higher than many middle-income countries. This is largely attributable to conditions that can be prevented or managed by high quality antenatal care. The way in which pregnant adolescents are treated at antenatal clinics influences their timely utilization of antenatal services. This qualitative study reports on the experiences of pregnant adolescents with health care workers when accessing antenatal care. Methods Pregnant girls aged 13–19 (n = 19) who attended public health care facilities that provide Basic Antenatal Care (BANC) services in Cape Town, South Africa were recruited. Four face to face in-depth interviews and four mini focus group discussions were undertaken, facilitated by a topic guide. Thematic analyses were used to analyse the data. Results Experiences that reinforce antenatal attendance, such as respectful and supportive treatment, were outweighed by negative experiences, such as victimization; discrimination against being pregnant at a young age; experiencing disregard and exclusion; inadequate provision of information about pregnancy, health and childbirth; clinic attendance discouragement; and mental health turmoil. Conclusions There is evidence of a discordant relationship between the health care workers and the pregnant adolescents. Adolescents feel mistreated and discriminated against by the health care workers, which in turn discourages their attendance at antenatal clinics. Maternal health care workers need to receive support and regular training on the provision of youth friendly antenatal care and be regularly evaluated, to promote the provision of fair and high quality antenatal services for adolescent girls.


Lab on a Chip ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Simchi ◽  
Jason Riordon ◽  
Jae Bem You ◽  
Yihe Wang ◽  
Sa Xiao ◽  
...  

A 3D-structured sperm selection device is presented that achieves both high selectivity and high yield via thousands of parallel channels. The device significantly outperforms the best clinical practice by selecting ∼100 000 of higher-quality sperm.


2019 ◽  
Vol 98 ◽  
pp. 111-118
Author(s):  
Samukelisiwe P. Ngcobo ◽  
Amy-Leigh Wilson ◽  
Colleen T. Downs

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